CHICAGO — Victims of the Highland Park shooting have filed multiple lawsuits naming the alleged shooter, Robert Crimo III, Smith & Wesson, two firearms dealers and Crimo’s father as the parties who bear responsibility for eruption of gun violence that killed seven and wounded dozens of others during the northern suburb’s Independence Day parade.
The lawsuits, to be discussed at a news conference later Wednesday, are the latest in the ongoing debate in the U.S. courts over who bears responsibility for the death and injury caused by firearms in this country.
The lawsuits name Robert Crimo Jr., the alleged shooter’s father, for helping his son obtain the gun permit card that he needed to purchase the Smith & Wesson M&P15 rifle that authorities say the younger Crimo used when he opened fire from atop a building along the parade route, according to one of the complaints, which was filed in Lake County Circuit Court on Tuesday.
